Buffalo Soldiers In World War One

Freddie Stowers was born in South Carolina in 1896. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1917 and was assigned to the all-Black 371st Infantry Regiment. He was killed in action on September 28, 1918. He was the first African American to be awarded a Medal of Honor for actions during World War I, which he received posthumously on April 24, 1991. He is buried at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial in France.

Henry Johnson was an African American soldier in the all-Black 369th Infantry known as the Harlem Hellfighters. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on June 2, 2015, for his gallant action during World War I. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Cleveland Leigh Abbott was born in South Dakota in December 1894. He served as a lieutenant in the segregated all-Black 366th Infantry Regiment during World War 1. He later taught and coached football and track and field at Tuskegee Institute. He died in 1955 in Tuskegee, Alabama.

Aaron R. Fisher was born in 1892 in Lyles, Indiana. He enlisted in the Army in 1911. He served with the Buffalo Soldiers of the Twenty-Fourth Infantry during the Punitive Expedition into Mexico. He was an officer in the all-Black 366th Infantry in World War I. He received the Distinguished Service Cross and France’s Croix de Guerre for his actions in France. He was an ROTC instructor at Wilberforce University from 1936 to 1947. He died on November 22, 1985, in Xenia, Ohio.

Aileen Cole was an African American nurse during World War I. She was one of eighteen Black nurses accepted into the Army Nurse Corps. Cole was stationed at Camp Sherman in Chillicothe, Ohio on December 1, 1918. Though she arrived after the Armistice, she and other nurses helped troops infected with the Spanish Flu and those wounded overseas.

Urbane F. Bass was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1880. He graduated from medical school and eventually started his medical practice in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He was commissioned into the Army as a first lieutenant in 1917. During World War I, He served as a doctor in the 372nd Infantry Regiment during fighting near Beausejour, France, when he was hit by artillery fire at a forward aid station. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

Jonathan N. Rucker was born in Natchez, Mississippi in 1892. He graduated from medical school in 1916. He served in France with the 317th Motor Supply Train during World War One. After being honorably discharged he worked as an educator, doctor, minister, and civil rights activist in Gallatin, TN and Natchez, MS. He died on February 8, 1970 and was buried at the Gallatin Cemetery.

Service record of Corporal Morris Link, who served with the 369th Regiment, nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters, in World War I, and was killed in action in France, in 1918. Corporal Link is buried in the historic cemetery at St. Paul's.

Spottswood Poles was born on December 9, 1887, in Winchester, Virginia. He was one of the greatest outfielders in the Negro Leagues between 1909 and 1916. During World War I, he served in the 369th Infantry Regiment, nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters. Poles was awarded the Purple Heart and honorably discharged as a Sergeant. Poles died on September 12, 1962, in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

The 369th Infantry Regiment was the most famous all-Black regiment of World War I. There are many photos of the 369th Infantry, but few have captions naming the men. Learn about the nine men of the 369th in this iconic World War I photo.

After years of fighting at home and abroad for a country that held mixed feelings for them, many expected the Buffalo Soldiers to be deployed to France in 1917 to help fight in WWI. However, the regular Army regiments of the Buffalo Soldiers would be found nowhere near France during WWI. Find out about the "other" Buffalo Soldiers who would take their place with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Some would even train at Ohio's WWI Soldier Factory, Camp Sherman.

Learn about the contributions of Storer College students and alumni in World War I. Storer College was founded in 1867 and was the first institution of higher learning for African Americans in West Virginia. Over 100 students and alumni of the school enlisted and contributed to the United States' efforts during the Great War.

Built in only a few months, immediately after America's entry into World War I, this military cantonment in Chillicothe, Ohio quickly became one of the largest constructed for the war effort. Although its gates were only open for three years, Camp Sherman trained hundreds of thousands of soldiers and would send one army division to Europe before the end of the war.

An exploration about World War I and St. Paul's Church